Most of us would like to find a low-mile car that’s been hidden away for a couple of decades and that’s the story with this 1979 Honda Civic. It’s listed here on eBay in “Rapid”, as Rapid City, South Dakota is lovingly known as. There is a $4,900 starting bid price that hasn’t been touched yet and an $8,000 buy-it-now price.
The first-generation Honda Civic was made until mid-1979 and I don’t think I need to mention that they may have been Honda’s “VW Beetle”, as far as being a cheap, reliable car that put the company on the map. At least as far as four-wheeled vehicles go, they had two-wheeled vehicles down by this point. It appears that the wheels have a bit of surface rust on them so the next owner will probably want to redo those, says Cap’n Obvious.
The seller says that this Civic was owned by two other parties before they got it from a relative of the original owner. The original owner passed away a couple of decades ago and it was inherited by a family member who kept it in a garage for the last twenty years or so. Nothing has been done to it since the current owner bought it other than to clean it up a bit.
It looks solid but has a light coating of surface rust on parts of the underside but hopefully nothing serious, just cosmetic. The seller says that it’s basically rust-free other than some surface rust. It looks rock solid to me, someone who has lived with winter and salty roads for five too many decades. The interior looks great, I don’t really see a flaw anywhere inside, from the front seats, the back seat, or the rear cargo area.
This one has a two-speed Hondamatic transmission, not a manual. I wonder if that’s holding back anyone from plopping down the opening bid? The interior looks almost like new as does the exterior.
The engine is Honda’s 1.5L (1,488 cc) inline-four CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion) engine which would have had around 63 horsepower. Maybe an engine that hasn’t been started in over twenty years is holding back the bidders? I can’t imagine that it would take much to get this car humming like new again and with only 34,000 miles, it’s about as close to new as you’re likely to find. Have any of you owned a first-gen Civic?
My dad bought a 75 Honda Civic for my mom. They really liked the car but unfortunately it got totaled by getting hit in the rear by a full sized car. Fortunately my mom and brother made it out okay. Next was a 1976 CVCC wagon that my dad bought new from the Honda dealer in San Antonio. He claimed he got the first wagon in the state. They were great cars unfortunately our family outgrew them or we would have remained a Honda family.
I saw a orange CVCC wagon a few years ago at the local gas station. I had to walk up and ask about the car which had a similar story to this one. Fellow had recently found it in the classifieds and was using it as his daily commuter. I asked if he would ever sell it. He said he loved the car and would get offers to buy every week. I agree with you Scotty if it didn’t have the Hondamatic it would have already sold.
My ex had an “Edinburgh Brown” version bought new as a graduation present, and her name in painted pinstripe on the door to cruise Whittier Blvd.
Ran great forever and looked good even years later-up until she ran over a fire hydrant that hadn’t been raised to standards after her storage shed complex had new asphalt laid down.
A“Japanese Beetle”? Good moniker and fitting!
Wow, the seller on that one left a bunch of money on the table. I bet that’s a 30-40k car on BaT. Somebody’s set to make some bank…..
Auction update: someone apparently grabbed it for $8,000! Expect to see it for sale again soon…
If this sold for $4800 in 1979 it’d of sold new for $12,494.68 today. I’ll bet a dollar to a donut the new seller tries to get as close as they can to that..
Good follow up, Scotty!
That little Honda engine has a air conditioner inside I think less I’m wrong
Yes, it has dealer installed A/C
The automatics are terrible and very gutless .
I’ve owned lots when they were $500
If that were a manual I’d be tempted to daily drive it.
I had the chance to drive many of these as a kid when I was working in the auto wholesale business. It seems like you either had it completely floored or off the gas. Kind of like an on/off switch. On the manual cars if you lugged them the dash would vibrate visibly like crazy. It was almost comical. Interestingly we would pick up many of these that we called “smokers”. We were hooked up with a Honda tech that had a side gig where he would take them home and basically do an in chassis quickie re-ring job that would stop the smoking. He could do one easily in a day at a minimal cost.
Nice looking 1st gen Honda Civic. Although I was too young at the time to drive a car, I remember when this gen Civic was on the market. I was only three yrs old by the time the Honda Civic was introduced to the car buying public, and six yrs old by the time this particular car appeared.
Yep, this was one of the first cars I ‘flipped’ as a college kid looking to make some tuition money. Bought for 800, buffed, cleaned, minor fixes and sold for 1300, against my better judgment to a neighbour. Her husband was a licensed mechanic at the Honda dealer and he did a full inspection before giving her the thumbs up to buy.
Three weeks later she came back and said the clutch had blown and wanted me to pay for a new one. I definitely was not going to do that and she was pretty vocal in letting me know what a terrible person I was.
And thus I learned Rule #7 of used car sales: Never sell to someone you know. Especially if they live nearby.
I was in a fraternity at Brooklyn College in the late ’70’s. Think “Animal House”. A brother had a light blue version of this car, model year 1976 or 1977. At the end of a successful party one night, a bunch of us brothers got together and physically picked up this car and moved it from the street on to the front lawn of the frat house. When the owner woke up the next morning and saw his car on the front lawn, he freaked out because he just assumed he did it. He thought he might have run someone over and hurt someone. He had no idea how his car ended up on the front lawn. Ah, but for the good old days! These were very good cars, by the way.
I had this car in brown, called it “The Turd”. The ran great and with the manual shift it was peppy enough for a winter beater. I used to load it with my buddies at lunch and we would hit McDs on the way to the beach and toss fries on the roof. The seagulls would hit it so hard the roof would indent. We would smack it and the gulls would sqawk and take off. We would go backwards as fast as I could, I’d clutch it and spin the wheel. Did slot of spins. One day it made a bad spin and was up on two wheels almost to the point of rolling over. Ended that. Things you do when you are going and stupid
I had a neighbor years ago who was strictly a Ford or Chevrolet man. Ford trucks and Chevrolet cars. But in the late 80s, he bought a new Honda Accord for his wife. He dropped by my house one day to show it to me. This was probably the first Honda I had ever really “looked” at. And I was impressed at the apparent quality of it. He claimed his wife loved it and enjoyed driving it more than the other previous Chevrolets she’d had.
About every three years, he would trade and get a new car for her. And he continued to buy Honda Accords. And I really looked at each one thoroughly and noticed each successive generation got larger and better looking.
That was my introduction to Honda. They have come a long way.
Oh by the way, my neighbor friend died a few years ago but his wife still drives Honda Accords.
Sadly this is what happened to the North American Auto Industry. Loyal Ford General Motors and Chrysler owners turned to a foreign alternative. And people wonder what happened to our industry?
Ai age forty — owned 2 brand new in ’72 both AT and fac air. 1 4dr and 1 wagon purchased in Puerto Rico for $3,000 ea. both excellent cars!!!! wagon survived minor flood like riding like a skiff!! sold 6 years later for purchase price when I returned to mainland,,,
Honda’s are good cars,I’ve owned 2 for long commute purposes over the years,these little tin cans were everywhere when I was a kid,and when I was a new driver, Honda has a real “cult”following,and someone may just pay the bin, but not me.
As the owner of several vintage Honda cars, they are in fact pretty decent cars but during this generation quality of materials used in them was terrible. Seat upholstery would last maybe 50000 miles. Steel body parts would rust profusely. Mechanically excellent but horrible material quality. Domestics had far superior materials with build quality varying from indifferent at best to awful. From 1975 to 1990 Honda cars made dramatic improvements in design, quality, and overall goodness each year and at a rapid pace.
Oh god i had one. Try 6 of this gen. In the early 80s they were cheap, fun, disposable cars. What killed them was unrepairable rust around the strut tower mounts. I had 4 cvcc models, 2 1200s. I of each had the hondamatic (japanese powerglide) i think i love my souls so much is they remind me of my 79 civic wagon as far as size and fun to drive goes. If i had the means and space, this civic would mine already!
In the 80’s, I bought a used 76 to go autocrossing with (previous owner had done some engine and suspension mods). After a few years, I picked up a second one for parts. When the oil pump went south it took out the valve train. That’s when I found out the spare car had a pooched motor. The amount of rust on the car made it not worth putting any more money in. It was a fun car. Especially with R compounds on the street.
I bought this car and have it in Connecticut. Just happened to see one of your videos. I can’t find anyone who can get it running. Or I should say they can try with an unlimited budget. Thought about replacing engine ? I owned this same model, color, carpet, hondamatic…for 10 years. Always regretted selling it. So when I saw this one for sale I did “buy it now”.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.